Middle school students speak out at annual competition

Students from the 11 middle schools in Fort Wayne Community Schools will compete in the annual Middle School Interscholastic Speech Contest at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, at the Grile Administrative Center, 1200 S. Clinton St.
To participate in the city competition, students had to win their school competitions by preparing a 3- to 5-minute persuasive speech using documents from the Remnant Trust at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Students researched the topics and presented their speech before their peers and, often, judges from the community.
At the city competition, the students will be judged by representatives from IPFW.
Fort Wayne Community Schools has hosted a middle school speech competition for many years as a way to teach students about persuasive writing and communicating fluently. The school and citywide competitions also help students learn about public speaking and how posture, voice and gestures are used to communicate – skills that will be important as they continue their education and enter the workforce.

With nearly 30,000 students, Fort Wayne Community Schools is one of the largest school districts in Indiana. FWCS proudly allows families to choose any of its 50 schools through its successful school-choice program creating diversity in each school, including some with more than 75 languages spoken. FWCS offers seven magnet schools focusing on areas such as science and math, communication, fine arts or Montessori at the elementary and middle school level. In high school, students can choose from the prestigious International Baccalaureate program, Project Lead the Way or New Tech Academy as well as other rigorous academic and specialty training programs.